In the positioning of gutters and rainspouts on building structures, a plurality of metal ferrules are required for aiding in securing the gutters to but spaced from the building. These metal ferrules usually are elongate tubes having an axially extending split therein, and these ferrules have been somewhat costly to produce heretofore. The ferrules are used in quantities by builders and any reduction in the cost of the ferrule can result in an appreciable savings to persons working with large numbers of ferrules for use in positioning gutters on a variety of buildings as a part of building actions of such person.
Prior types of sheet metal strip roll-forming apparatus have been known, and examples of them are shown in my own prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,785,191 and 3,945,233. However, the apparatus shown in such prior patents is not designed for, nor adapted to provide metal ferrules, and it is desirable to produce uniform quality ferrules in large quantities by inexpensive forming actions on sheet metal strips.